Katie Zacharia holds first White House press briefing

CNN posted a YouTube video titled “Quite unusual’: Kaitlan Collins reacts to Katie Zacharia’s first WH briefing.” In that briefing, Katie Zacharia announced that the White House had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign.

CNN’s description says Kaitlan Collins explains what she found “unusual” about the short session, with former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart and CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston giving their reactions.

The briefing itself was held Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. The Associated Press timed it at 14 minutes. NBC News, in a report by Megan Brand, said Zacharia spent more than half of it reading prepared remarks before she took questions from three outlets only: Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail. Breitbart held the “new media” seat that day, according to NBC News. The BBC’s Sarah Smith was in the room and later described the performance for her network.

Zacharia, 41, is President Donald Trump’s new press secretary. Trump announced the pick Friday. She had been a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group. She succeeds Karoline Leavitt, who left in August to spend more time with family. On the Daily Mail question, Zacharia said the administration had asked Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, to resign amid misconduct allegations, NBC News and AP both reported. She framed her own job as amplifying the president. “My goal is to be able to communicate that in complete tandem with the president, as he is his own best spokesperson and will absolutely be leading the way with that,” NBC News quoted her saying. She said she hopes to “only build on, only amplify and only multiply, to the extent possible, all of the wins.”

She also addressed family and the move the job required. “I adore my family. I love them. They are my priority,” NBC News reported her saying. “I love being with my kids. The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable.” Her husband and four children are moving to the Washington, D.C., area from California, according to that account. In the same stretch she accidentally referred to her husband as “my president” before correcting herself, NBC News reported.

After the briefing, as Trump prepared to depart, a reporter asked Zacharia what state she had passed the bar exam in. She replied she “moved to China,” NBC News reported. Her LinkedIn account lists work at Zhong Lun Law Firm in China from 2011 to 2013. It also lists her as “general counsel” for Fix California, founded by Ric Grenell. A spokesperson for the State Bar of California told NBC News the state has no record of her being licensed to practice there and that she has not “appeared on a California bar exam pass list.” Zacharia later said in a statement: “I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.” A White House official, asked whether she had passed the bar, did not answer directly. The official said she moved to China with her husband after graduating Pepperdine Caruso School of Law because of his job at an American private equity firm, and that in China she worked on international transaction law until they moved back to the states.